Well you're right in respect of anyone using it as a point of their identity, and the at exclusion of everything else that some "grown" men certainly account for.

Though on that same note, it's easy to decry burgeoning art mediums in their embryo. In the next decade, I think it will become increasingly uncommon for people in developed nations to not play video games, although casual applications will probably consist of the bulk of this, in all concession.

___________________
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Nov-11-2012 02:00

FledzLost & Found

Registered: Sep 2006
Location: London UK

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN
Wow, and that's saying something.

I am stirring it a little, but honestly computer games are just so lame. I mean even saying out loud when you're adult "I'm going to play a video game"....just so embarrassing. Not that I'm a nazi about it or anything, it's up to people if they want to waste their time playing Halo or some other lame shit, but it just seems so infantile to me. I dunno.

To me, that makes you the 15 year old because what you just said is the type of response I expect from an uneducated teenager or an overzealous Christian mother, not a well educated man.

Come on Rann. If I want to sit down and read a book on Monday, watch a movie on Tuesday and play a deeply engrossing game on Wednesday, where's the problem? I know you're fishing for a response, but it's actually sad that you're serious.

It's arguably the most engrossing storytelling medium that exists. It's certainly a lot more stimulating than tv or movies.

The whole culture around hardcore gamers though is just disgusting... Even in the niche that I am involved in its bad, and thats a fairly small niche that requires quite a bit of technical skill to even begin to play in.

The best communities still are the flight sim communities, especially the combat flight sim groups.

Console gaming can be fine, but I really just ignore it. I probably buy maybe 1 console game a year and I never fucking play online.

Increasing the barrier to entry is almost always a good thing in gaming.

Nov-11-2012 10:33

pointPiSupreme tranceaddict

Registered: Apr 2010
Location: In big trouble

On the topic about video games, I absolutely love them. Playing video games is one of my favourite hobbies, alongside making music, indoor climbing and drawing. In fact, I'm aspiring to one day become a game designer myself; there are just too many ideas going on in my head.

With that being said, I'm not that fond of the general aura of the gaming community. Many get so emotionally attached to their preferred game series, that they become rather religious about it.

For instance, are the developers going to take the series into a new direction for the sake of exploring? "YOU KILLED MY FAVOURITE GAME SERIES AND SHOULD DESERVE TO BE DIPPED INTO ACID LAVA!!!" Does a game critic give an average score to a generic instalment of said game series? "HOW DARE YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THIS TO PERFECTION ITSELF?! I SHALL CAST DEMONS UPON THEE!!!" Is said critic female? "PREPARE YOURSELF FOR THE FLAME STORM OF MISOGYNY!!!" And so on and so forth.

Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On
Is it about games, or is it about the anonymous umbrella that online communities foster? If there exists a deeply-rooted misogyny endemic to the internet, this very website most definitely suffers just the same as any idiotic XBL chatroom.

Although it's certainly true that games as an inherent form of escapism certainly encourage and breed said temperament, the same could be said and observed of sports or an interest in cars. It's not about gamers, it's about men getting together and airing their presumable sexual frustrations, wrought with the mimetic endearment of sociosexual expectation.

Well, that. But there's also the fact that game developers quite often cater for testosterone-loaded gamers, and it's not hard to find games with scantily clad female characters that defy the laws of gravity, physics, and hypothermia :

Hell, I'm playing Civilization V right now, and except for the rather plump Austrian queen, every single female leader is either hot or cute, whereas most male leaders are... well... see for yourself:

quote:

Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN
i dunno why gaming is more "pathetic" than any other pointless hobby.

It's an unfair stereotype, but I assume - and this is nothing but an impression - it's because (1) it's something new and (2) unlike most other hobbies, you don't really have a "product" you can use to brag after you spend hours and hours playing video games. Jocks have nice bodies, artists have masterpieces, video game players have a level 128 paladin